Diarrhea is a common disease which has always disturbed the human health for a long time. With the leaped changes in the life style of human in modern times, human intestinal flora have been, to some extent, difficult to adapt the modern life style, and all the changes in various stresses, dietary patterns and food habits have produced adverse effects on the spleen-stomach and intestinal microecology, thereby influencing the normal intestinal function.
In the traditional Chinese medicine, the spleen-stomach is believed to be the source of qi-blood metaplasia and the acquired foundation. The spleen functionally governs transportation and transformation while the stomach governs descending, both of which are associated with digestion, absorption, excretion and metabolism processes. When the spleen disfunctions in transportation, a diarrhea will occur, and thus it is believed in the traditional Chinese medicine that the sources of diarrheas all originate from the spleen-stomach. With studies of modern medicines, it has been found that a diarrhea induced by spleen deficiency is usually accompanied with disturbances in the intestinal flora. The spleen deficiency leads to digestion and absorption obstacles, the occurrence of poor appetite, loose stools, emaciation, etc., and destroys the balance between visceral organs in the body, which certainly will lead to disturbances in the intestinal flora, while the disturbances in the flora will in turn exacerbate the spleen deficiency, wherein they are cause and effect mutually. On one hand, in the diarrhea induced by spleen deficiency, the intestinal tract disfunctions, the intestinal peristalsis is accelerated, the stool frequency is increased, and beneficial anaerobes are discharged, resulting in the disturbances in the intestinal flora. On the other hand, in the spleen deficiency, the body's resistance is decreased, external toxic bacteria are extremely easy to invade and reproduce, exacerbating the disturbances in the intestinal flora. A vicious cycle is thereby formed, exacerbating the diarrhea and abdominal distension.
Antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) refers to the most common iatrogenic diarrhea which is induced by disturbances in the intestinal flora occurred after clinical use of an antibiotic to treat an infectious disease. Since the advent of the antibiotic in 1940's, it has significantly reduced the mortality and complications from bacterial infections, which has played a huge role in the human health and development. However, the popularization and abuse of antibiotics today bring about many adverse effects. While killing the harmful bacteria in the body, antibiotic drugs will also kill the beneficial bacteria in the body, destroying the microecological balance in the intestinal tract, resulting in disturbances in the intestinal flora and thus a diarrhea.
Currently, most of medicines for treating a diarrhea are Western medicines which have obvious side effects and limited efficacies and which usually cure the symptoms rather than the disease. Therefore, it is of very important significance to further develop a product which is capable of improving and/or preventing a diarrhea, and capable of regulating the intestinal flora.